Learn to Walk Before you Run...

So I finally gave in to my longstanding temptation and purchased a pair of Vibram Five Fingers (tm) footwear. Since my old New Balance sneakers had completely worn out and had hole on one of the soles, it was time to buy new athletic shoes anyway.

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I took advantage of a 50% off sale on some Vibram models at the local Applachian Outdoors store and purchased _______________.

Meanwhile, one of the big drivers for this prompt purchase was that I had missed the bus on Friday night (the 10pm last bus from Cato Park) so I decided to walk home. It was only 60 F and a beautiful large moon was up so that walk was remarkable. For most of the walk, there were not many cars on the road so it was wonderful being able to listen to the trees, the wind, the critters of the night and the occasional Ford 150 thundering down the road.

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But I walked those ~3-3.5 miles in some shoes that are definitely not made for long walks.

State College / Penn State : Top Ten Restaurants

ITALIAN
Mario and Luigi's (fine dining, full service bar)
North Atherton St. near Blockbuster

Faccia Luna (large wood fired oven, wine)
South Atherton Street (near intersection with Allen St.)

THAI and VIET

Cozy Thai Bistro (bring your own beer/wine)
Allen Street
Galaga Thai cafe - on East College Avenue

My Thai
Westerly Parkway

Pho 11  (*new*)
North Atherton (near Greyhound bus terminal)


Lemongrass Cafe (*new*)

TEX-MEX FOOD (my friends would kill me if I use the word Mexican as they feel none are authentic enough)

Qdoba: http://www.qdoba.com/
State College #211
206 West College Avenue
State College, PA 16801
814-861-3288

Chipotle Mexican Grill
Heister Street (opening Sep 11th)
Chipotle - Penn State University
116 Heister St.
State College, PA 16801
814-231-0442 (phone)
Open 11am - 10pm

Baja Fresh
Downtown (on Garner Street and Calder way) open till 10pm usually

Rey's Azteca  (*new*) By the Nittany Mall on Benner Pike (next to Office Depot) open till 11pm weekends

Jalisco (coming soon)  (*new*) - on North Atherton


AMERICAN CUISINE
The Deli on Heister Street
Great beers, wide menu, great desserts; They are also connected to Inferno - restaurant and bar

The Tavern Restaurant on College Avenue

INDIAN

Kaarma (on Beaver Avenue close to x-tion with Allen St)

India Pavilion (on Calder Way) close to Pugh Street - between Beaver and College Avenues.


Spicetruck Indian Cooking  (*new*) -  Cooking demonstrations and customized dinners at site of your convenience (where possible)- Please contact Nari at psusaver@gmail.com or call 814 753 4459 for more information. Both South and North Indian cooking available.

MIDDLE EASTERN CUISINE & CREPES

Pita Cabana Grill 
Next to Chipotle on Calder Way

Joie De Crepe
East College Avenue - next to Penn Stae McLannahans Room-
 in Basement next to Big Bowl Noodle House

ALTOONA
El Campesino (Altoona, PA) http://elcampesino.net/


and more will be added as time goes on!

State College Summer 2009 June/July

This post contains (mostly free) things to do in State college penn state area in july and rest of summer 2009.
[older cached version of page in June with info about 4th fest]

• If you are looking for hikes/nature hotspots etc, browse the archives here or check pahikes.com.
• If you are a graduate student at Penn State, for more events check here and here .
• If you are interested in (free) stress busting workshops email to me directly at nari at psu.edu

DES MARAIS ARCHITECTURE EXHIBIT
SATURDAY JULY 25 2009 RECEPTION

CCHS presents a new exhibit, the 4th installment in a series of contemporary homes conceived and designed by Robert Malcom: "Des Marais: A Preservation Enthusiast,” a photo retrospective of the architectural legacy of M. Robert Des Marais.

The exhibit will be shown in the exhibit space at the Schlow Centre Region Library during the library's regular hours throughout the month of July.

A closing reception for the exhibit will be held on Saturday, July 25 from 3:00-5:00 p.m., in the library's community room. The architect’s widow, Sally, and exhibit curator Robert Malcom will be available for questions. More information will be available on the CCHS website shortly.

Centre County Historical Society
Centre Furnace Mansion
1001 East College Avenue
State College, PA 16801
814.234.4779

JULY 9-12, 2009 Arts Fest [CENTRE PENNSYLVANIA ARTS FESTIVAL]
[Children's Day is July 8, 2009] [parking info]

The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts will bring over 125,000 people to downtown State College and the University Park campus of Penn State to celebrate the arts with its nationally recognized Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition, gallery exhibition, sand sculpture and music, dance and theatrical performances in a variety of traditional and non-traditional venues.
[Artsfest official website]
The image to your left is the 2009 Arts fest poster (link). Clicking on the image will take you to the press release.

** new ** Artsfest Webcam - Live Coverage ** new **

FOOD OPTIONS
Apart from the arts, you can also find lot of street level food stalls set up by Indian/Thai/American/Italian/Meditteranean/Italian vendors and some amazing apple strudel sellers on Allen Street. Also at night, the bars are great for those who come to town only for the bacchanalian fest. Please be responsible though. Tip: If you are hungry late at night, Canyon Pizza on Beaver/McAllister and Bell's Greek Pizza (see map below) are options open till 3-4am usually. The McDonalds at E College and Dunkin Donuts at Fraser & West College are open 24/7.

CORN ON THE COB (very good)
The (now) famous and amazingly tasty cuban "corn-on-the-cob"* would be available from a street vendor on Calder Way (behind the Got Used book store and across from Bell's Greek Pizza. If you go to the cuban corn stall, please do tell them you heard about it here, on the Nari Blog (I get no incentive for promoting it here, I do know the guys who run it from my yoga class though).



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[* cuban denotes the preparation style, the corn is US grown corn]

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JULY 9-12, 2009 People's Choice Arts Festival
(one where you can afford to buy stuff)
Location: BOALSBURG (from State College take South Atherton / Business 322)

When
July 9–12, 2009

Hours
Thursday–Saturday: 10 a.m.–8 p.m.
Sunday: Noon–5 p.m.

Where
Pennsylvania Military Museum Grounds
Business Route 322
Boalsburg, PA

A special attraction: The Little Smilin’ Choo Choo will take riders throughout the festival. The charge to ride is $1.00 per rider. The train station is located at the center of the festival in the kids area. (image courtesy PCAF)

$1CinemaTix

Just read on the "Collegian" (Penn State's College Newspaper) that Carmike Six Cinemas (Nittany Mall) is offering weekend deals of $1 movie tickets to "second run movies". That includes movies that are past 3-4 months after their release, new enough, but not brand new. [Link]

This weekend (Jan 16, 09) the movies that will be screened at Carmike 6 are Quantum of SolaceJames Bond movie], and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa [Family movie/animation].

The news report did not mention if the promotion was only [for college students or if anybody going to Cinema 6 on weekends would get the $1 tix. I will be calling the Carmike Cinema 6 office [Ph: (814) 237-1998] on Friday to clarify this issue. Once I have the full information, I will update this post. Note, from the Carmike 6 Cinema website it appears that all movies tickets are down to $1,(+ appl. taxes, so carry change, and oh..they accept only cash). Who would whip out plastic for $1 and change anyways?

By the way, my personal opinion is that Carmike 6 (at the Mall) does not compare very well to the newer Premiere 12 (near the Nittany Mall) and the College 9 ($6 to $6.75 w/Student ID, near Lowes on N Atherton). I personally did not like the sound system at Carmike 6, so I have not been there in the past 7-8 months. Also all these three cinemas are far away from campus, so they may not suit many students at Penn State (those who don't have a car).

Tip: However, for students who rely more on walking and the bus to get anywhere (the M bus by CATA takes you to the Mall), the movie options close to campus are at: State Theatre ($6 w/ Student ID downtown on College Ave) and the HUB Auditorium on most weekends when Late Night Penn State is active.

How to get to Cinema 6
1. Take the M bus (schedules)
2. Convince friends who have a car to join
3. Bike in summer, fall.
Till then, enjoy cheap movies.
Carmike 6 Local Wiki
Madagascar on IMDB
Trailer:

PENN STATE BEATS OHIO STATE 2008

Just adding two videos of students celebrating wildly on the streets back home in State College, after the PSU Nittany Lions defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes 13-6 to remain 9-0 in season and 5-0 in conference (big ten). A recap is available here.

Youtube video of crazy crowds. (cellphone video,dont expect high quality)

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recap?gid=200810250033




and one more..

State College Things to do: Outdoors, Nature

There is an abundance of outdoor activities to do at State College, PA, home of the Nittany Lions, the sacred land of JoePa and seat of the Penn State University. When people are not doing homework, or researching complex subjects like Fuel Science, Mechanical Engineering, Materials, Early Childhood education, Meteorology or Mushroom Science - they head out rock climbing or hiking or trail biking in the county. This piece is going to talk more about Stone Valley, with some mentions of other trips to nearby states or counties.

See news about adventure recreation here and blogs on Rock climbing and Hiking and pics of Canoeing under the links.

The Stoney valley area offers unique programs for groups too: vertical adventures - an elaborate venture - for groups of 8 or more people (cap at 20?). They have lot of things to do at Stone Valley (even though the lake itself is closed right now).

More things to do. (external site)